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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
BOC should
probe member’s
meddling
W HAT a mess. A used
car lot in South
Jackson appears to
be at the center of events that
led to Jackson County’s planning
director and another staff mem
ber being put on leave. It also rais
es a huge number of questions
about what appears to be some
shenanigans within the county
government itself.
The core issue is a used car lot
and repair shop on a dead-end
road across from Redstone United
Methodist Church. David Archer,
owner of the six-acre site, built a
building and other infrastructure
without following the county’s
commercial development codes
for setback and landscaping. Last
week, he asked for a variance to
allow his business to operate.
Whether or now those varianc
es should be allowed is debatable.
On the one hand, Archer ignored
the county’s zoning codes and
built his business without follow
ing all the procedures. On the
other hand, some of the coun
ty’s zoning codes are an undue
burden, especially for small busi
nesses.
But what is really troubling
about this issue is that there was
apparently a great deal of political
interference taking place. In fact,
unknown to Mr. Archer, the coun
ty had waived the $250 fee for
the variance application under the
direction of an unnamed county
commissioner. On Feb. 2, county
manager Darrell Hampton issued
the order to waive the fee at the
direction of a BOC member.
In addition, the county provid
ed “technical assistance” to Mr.
Archer, but the county was later
reimbursed for its cost.
The exact nature of the county
planning director’s role in all of
this isn’t clear. He is still on leave.
Did he protest these actions, or
go along with them?
What does appear clear is
political pressure on Mr. Archer’s
behalf by one county commis
sioner outside the consideration
of the full board.
If the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners is to have any
shred of credibility with the pub
lic, it has to put a stop to this kind
of internal meddling.
The BOC should ask some
tough questions about this mat
ter, find out which BOC member
is involved and get to the bottom
of what exactly transpired in this
zoning case.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
News Department
Angela Gary Associate Editor
Jana Adams Mitcham Features Editor
Brandon Reed Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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"You've got real tax troubles...
Have you ever thought of running for legislature?
letters
Says column missed the point
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to Mike Buffington’s
column dated February 25th. It was a response to a
letter written by a third grade teacher.
To which I offer this observation:
You completely missed the point (obviously by
choice) of the teacher’s comments. Your com
ments were mean-spirited and thoughtless.
I live in Jackson County but I work in a Barrow
County elementary school. I have been there for
eleven years as a paraprofessional. I suspect that
is more experience than you have in education. I
make just about $13,000 a year. I pay my taxes just
as every one in education does. So in essence I am
paying part of my own salary. Do you?
Your listing of the salaries was not totally forth
right. It didn’t give the years of experience, degrees,
certifications or stipends paid for doing extra work.
Examples of stipends are coaching above your con
tract duties, teaching summer school (oops there
goes that wonderful time on the beach), taking
classes, (not reimbursed for expenses, and most
often the class itself), and oops there goes more
of that summer on the beach. Did you know that
teachers and paraprofessionals are required to take
100 contact hours of classes within every five years
to keep their certificate? More summer gone!
Every job has burdens and everyone complains
about them. It’s just human nature. As for thinking
about the gentleman who does lawn care, you are
right, honest work is honest work. I do appreciate
him. Teachers choose to teach for many reasons.
For many women this gives them the opportunity
to be on the same schedule as their children. We
choose our careers. If being off for the summer is
so important to you then teach journalism at the
high school. You too can spend your summer on
the beach. Ha!
As for air conditioning, I will work without it if
you will.
Job security; ask those teachers being laid off
about job security. School nurses also.
We self-absorbed and unappreciative employees
are devoted to our students and take on many
duties that are not part of the job description of
teacher. Mr. Buffington, you should be well aware
of some of these duties. There are many children
with special physical needs in our county. We must
receive special training to help those with seizures,
no bladder control and other problems. It totally
disrupts the class and stops all instmction for the
time it takes to care for these students but it is done
with a smile because we care. We are expected
to educate all students, those who are interested,
those who are not, those who are well-behaved,
those who are not and those with parents who are
supportive and those with parents that could care
less. 1 know the same is true for Jefferson and any
other school system. Do you tmst your child’s life
to these overpaid, self-absorbed, condescending
people? Yes, your children are in public school.
You trust the teachers with their care, safety and
education. You certainly ask a lot from someone
you think is over-paid, self-absorbed and unap
preciative.
1 don’t have the privilege of privacy for my salary
as you do. Would you be willing to print your salary
in the paper? Not just your salary but your share of
the profits from Main Street News. I bet not. 1 would
think that a man in your position would do more
research before blasting a very important profes
sion. Where would you be without teachers?
Sincerely,
Barbara Mize
We’re rolling down a bumpy road
tom
crawford
THERE is less than a month to go before the leg
islative session adjourns and our lawmakers don’t
appear to be any closer than they were last year
at this time to resolving the
state’s highway congestion
issues.
With time mnning out on
the session, the Senate and
the House of Representatives
are still miles apart on the
one factor that matters more
than anything else in fixing
our transportation mess:
how do you raise the bil
lions of dollars needed to
build new roads, bridges,
and transit facilities?
The Senate has passed a
proposal from last year that would allow groups of
counties to band together and charge a regional
sales tax to pay for new highways. The House
likewise has passed a measure that would impose
a statewide sales tax to pay for transportation
infrastructure fixes. There has been no indica
tion of any significant movement to bridge the gap
between those two positions.
Gov. Sonny Perdue thinks he has the solution to
this problem: do away with the current structure
of the Department of Transportation and set up
a new transportation authority controlled by the
governor’s office.
The supporters of SB 200, Perdue’s attempt to
carry out a major overhaul of the state’s transporta
tion bureaucracy, were exultant late last week over
the bill’s passage in the Senate.
“Today, the Senate took a major step in real trans
portation relief for Georgians,” said Senate Majority
Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), in a typical
response.
A more sober analysis of the bill’s vote suggests
that SB 200 could well stall out and die in the House
of Representatives.
SB 200 passed by the razor-thin majority of 30-25
in the Senate, which was just one more vote than
the minimum of 29 it takes to adopt a bill in that
chamber. Even worse for the bill’s prospects, the
normally solid Republican majority split over this
issue.
Sen. John Bulloch (R-Ocklocknee), Sen. Jeff
Chapman (R-Brunswick), Sen. John Crosby
(R-Tifton), and Sen. Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville),
who are all Republican lawmakers from outside
metro Atlanta, joined the Democratic minor
ity to vote against the bill. Opponents of SB 200
also claim they were close to getting another
Republican, Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), to vote
no on the measure.
Those votes could portend an ominous future for
SB 200 in the House, where it will mn up against the
same coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans
from outside the metro area.
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter hinted at
this when Democrats cut the deal with Republicans
to support House passage of the statewide sales tax
for transportation infrastructure improvements.
“The fight over governance is very different from
this bill,” Porter said as he urged House members
to vote for the statewide tax. “1 oppose the changes
in [DOT] governance and so should you.”
The arguments on this issue are familiar.
Everyone is frustrated by the DOT’s lack of progress
in building new roads, but many legislators aren’t
quite ready to give up their power to elect members
of the State Transportation Board and hand that
power over to a transportation authority that would
effectively be controlled by the governor.
It was executive branch corruption that prompted
the creation in the 1960s of the current structure of
the State Transportation Board, whose members
are chosen by legislators. It’s probably not a good
idea to tempt any Georgia governor with the oppor
tunity to control billions of dollars in highway funds,
a thought that is occurring to many lawmakers.
One of hot rumors making the rounds at the Capi
tol has been that House Speaker Glenn Richardson
will eventually cut a deal with the Transportation
Board members: he’ll keep the current DOT
stmcture in place if board members will elect
Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), Richardson’s
close ally, as the new DOT commissioner.
That almost happened two years ago, when
Smith and Gena Evans were competing for the top
DOT job. Evans, the governor’s choice for the job,
won by a vote of 7-6 among board members. She
has since been fired by the Transportation Board,
which could open the way for Smith to get her job.
Whoever ends up running DOT, he’s got to get
the state back on course to doing something about
its wretched transportation systems. Time is getting
short.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact's
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcrawford@
caDitolimDact.net.
Bank’s demise a sad
sign of the times
S CARY times. Last week’s seizure of
Jackson County’s Freedom Bank of
Georgia by the feds was just the latest
sign that America is in the midst of a massive
economic shakeup.
Although records are sketchy, it appears
this was the first Jackson County bank to fail
since the Depression. Citizens Bank and Trust
in Jefferson closed in April 1931 and could
only pay depositors seven cents on the dol-
lar. (Several other
banks in Jackson
County reportedly
also closed in the
Depression, but few
records are avail-
able. First Federal
Savings Bank of
Georgia failed during
the S&L crisis of the
r i
early 1990s, but it
was based in Barrow
County, not Jackson
mike
County.)
Freedom Bank’s
buffington
demise was the 17th
in the nation and sec-
ond in Georgia this year. More bank failures are
likely to come; some 42 banks in Georgia are
considered weak based on the most recent bank
reports.
Although Freedom Bank’s downfall wasn’t
totally unexpected — the feds issued a cease and
desist order in December and those familiar with
banking finance knew it was struggling to stay
afloat — the bank’s closing does create additional
psychological discord at a time when the eco
nomic news is already grim.
Freedom Bank was created in 2004 at the
onset of the great housing bubble. When the
bubble burst in 2007, it was left with too many
bad loans on its books from area constmction
projects that had gone bad.
In addition, Freedom Bank hit the market
at a time when a slew of bank branches were
opening and other new area banks were being
organized. The market for banks became satu
rated at the same time the housing bubble was in
decline.
It’s difficult to draw a comparison between
the banking crisis of today and that of the 1930s.
Before deposit insurance came about, a bank
failure could wipe out individuals, farmers and
businesses. Today, FDIC insurance doesn’t let
that happen.
In addition, the raw number of bank failures
doesn’t tell the entire story. In the 1930s, some
4,000 banks failed, a far higher number than
what we’re seeing today. However, today’s banks
have multiple branches, often in different com
munities (Freedom Bank had four branches in
three different counties.)
Still, for all the differences between today and
the 1930s, the psychological impact of bank fail
ures is the same: It undermines our confidence
in the financial system and the overall economy.
It was that fear of a banking crisis that FDR
addressed in his inaugural speech in 1933. He
immediately declared a national bank holiday in
March 1933, an event that was duly noted in The
Jackson Herald of that era.
It appears that we are just at the beginning of
this crisis. Although a number of banks failed in
2008, more are likely to go under in 2009. The
FDIC is raising additional capital to cover the
losses. The fear of a banking shakeout has not
subsided yet.
Compounding the banking crisis is the decline
of the Stock Market in recent weeks, the contin
ued decline in housing values and foreclosures,
and the rising unemployment rate that is now
approaching double digits. It is all very troubling.
Early this week, I read through some of the
old Heralds from 1931-1933. The tone of that era
echoes much of what we see today — the fear
and uncertainty is palatable on those pages even
75 years later. Property values were in decline;
foreclosures were rising; local governments
were stmggling (Jefferson even issued “script”
at one point because the town didn’t have any
real money to pay bills); the state government
was in disarray; politicians were arguing over the
president’s policies and federal spending; and a
drought plagued some areas of the state.
The failure of Freedom Bank last week really
didn’t have much of a direct economic impact.
Its depositors were covered by the FDIC and
another bank bought some of its assets and
reopened Monday morning under a new name.
In addition, there are so many banks in the area
that the failure of any one has only a minor eco
nomic ripple in the big picture.
But in an emotional sense, any local bank’s
demise is a blow to the community and a sign
that every town, large or small, is feeling the
effects of the current economic storm.
Scary times, indeed.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreet-
news.com.